This is rediculous and unfair. Why should you be allowed to gain a TREMENDOUS advantage in recruiting while a team is preparing for a bowl game? I'm glad Brandon spoke out against this and hopefully other coaches do too.

I know it's difficult for you to understand how the BCS works because you've never been to a BCS bowl game, but your team wasn't eligible. They weren't ranked high enough to even be considered for a BCS bowl. You didn't get passed over. You weren't eligible.

I know you're mad about this, brah, but let's call it even since you beat us once by your corner tackling Desmond Howard in the endzone before he caught the ball (admitted pass interfence) and another time with an extra second on the game clock (directly resulting in NCAA rule change). K, brah? K

Sparty fouled their way out of direct chance to go to a BCS bowl. By hitting Wisconsin's punter and loosing the game (not to mention previous lossed to ND and Nebraska), Sparty fell in the BCS rankings to a position where they were no longer eligible to be selected for a BCS game.

i.e., Michigan State had the chance and blew it ==== Sparty ... Nooooooooooooooo!

You have two teams in the MNC game who are poster childs for oversigning. Alabama has taken 109 LOIs over the last four years and LSU has taken 102. Then I checked Okie St. and was surprised to find they have taken 109 also.

Since Rivals inception Bama's smallest four year period is 98 and every other four year period is over 100 with a high of 111 (+26) and if they take no more commits this year they will be at 99. LSU's low 91 high of 105 and at 99 if they take no more commits this year.

In the BIG, Ohio has a four year high of 88, Wisky 92, MSU 104 but current team is 87, and Michigan 93 with massive attrition from RR years and I expect we top that number this year.

I understand the unfair advantage of Ohio having a coach to coach and one to recruit, but that is nowhere near the advantage you get from taking roughly an extra 20+ recruits every four years and cutting those who don't pan out.

He had the chance to speak out by declining the Alabama game and giving reasons publicly. I would have loved for him to do that and try and get Jerry Jones to contact Georgia, Florida, Texas, USC, Oklahoma, or any other school that doesn't oversign. I would be all for a "Michigan doesn't schedule optional games against schools that oversign" policy. That would result in real egg on Alabama's face, which would be awesome.

Uhh.....no. Just, no. There was never an exemption issued to U of M for this. Rich Rod making calls is one thing; an exemption for having more coaches on the payroll than is actually allowed is quite another. I will recant if you can show me some evidence that U of M got said waiver in 2007 that allowed us to have Gibson, RR, whomever else, et al, recruiting for us while on the payroll pre-Lloyd's last game. I'm damn near certain it didn't happen. We hired an HC only.

I generally think DB is . . . hard to stomach for virtually everything but hiring Brady Hoke. But this isn't a reason to dislike him, IMO. He's right, it's bullshit, and we didn't get the same treatment. I've never heard of us having received a waiver for having too many coaches, and I'm fairly certain if it happened, it was not ever made public. . . which would be odd, considering that we are a publicly-funded university in one of the 49 states that doesn't end with "sylvania", and the NCAA is a public organization.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasnt one of ther reasons UM went on probation when they were punished for stretching over their 20 minutes a week rule violation because they had to many trainers or so called coaches on staff as well which was a violation?? Hmm seems like ohio is running along the same lines right now.

Didn't try. RR was fired after the bowl game. This only really works if you have an interim coach you're going to keep around as an assistant or the head coach you're firing agrees to stick around through the bowl ala Erickson or Neuheisel currently.

This has nothing to do with the Dave Brandon discussion, but I read your signature lines and there's something on ebay right now that may interest you. The original coffin used by Bob Ufer in the 1976 Mich-OSU game with a Woody Hayes doll inside. Don't know how to embed, but search "1976 Michigan-Ohio State football Woody Hayes doll in coffin used by Bob Ufer" it will come up. Nice item if you have a spare $250.00 lying around.

Illinois requested the same waiver for Beckman and his staff. They said something to the effect of "if Ohio gets to do it, then so should we". It's a real slippery slope the NCAA is standing on, but what's new?

What determines the success of the application for a waiver? Seems that this is just another loophole to allow someone to cheat. NCAA meet my tax lawyers. They will find all the loopholes and exploit them until you are the laughing stock of college sports. Wait am I too late? Noooooo!

but, UNC is being allowed the same thing...it's not just Ohio..I don't understand the rule, but I also don't understand a lot of stuff going on in college football now-a-days or the NFL for that matter.

Considering that Meyer was hired because Tressel lied and cheated to the NCAA. This would be wrong for an ordinary transition, it is pathetic when a coaching change is done because of an NCAA investigation. I'm guessing the NCAA won't do anything to OSU other than a stern lecture and Gee will nod...meanwhile Columbus tattoo parlors will double in the next decade..

is it cool if the only real penalty we had to face, replacing our scumbag cheating ass coach, is mitigated by having our incoming coach, who has 2 national championships, do recruiting while the existing staff prepares for the bowl game we shouldn't be eligible for? Oh yeah, thats ok? Thanks. I'm glad you understand that unaccounted stretching is on the same level as paying players.

Ha! well put. Why don't they just bring back that scumbag, cheating-ass coach on staff as well? They can have Fickell do the Xs & Os, Tressel provide the inspirational/motivational speeches and Meyer can recruit future Terrelle Pryors.

Dirty politicians always seem to have an advantage, then they go down in the flames of corruption. If I was a journalist, I would be setting up beat in Columbus. Seems you are guaranteed a scandel every few years. They are like the pheonix of scandal makers, a new one always emerges from the ashes of the old.

The NCAA has no method for schools to hold its feet to the fire. No balance of power. Time to abandon it. The Big Ten would be just fine on its own. Fuck the MNC, fuck BCS bowl games I just want Big Ten championships anyway....

Its not like winning the championship of cheating is anything to be proud about anyway...

The NCAA doesn't seem to even hide the fact that they are in bed with Ohio, what with allowing the double coaching staff, not caring that Tressel came to speak to the team for the Michigan game- you know, the same coach who got FIRED and caused the NCAA to investigate in the first place. The fact that Urban Meyer took the job in the first place, tells you that he must've had reassurances from someone in the know, that the NCAA "hammer" that's about to drop, is going to be more like an NCAA "feather". Frankly, the NCAA hypocrisy is disgusting.

I think it would be ok if it was just limited to the incoming HC. In most of these situations, much/most of the existing staff is not being retained so in a way they are at a recruiting disadvantage. But the way I read the NCAA waiver, Ohio could actually hire an entirely new staff and thereby have 10 guys out recruiting full-time while the staffs of most other teams are preparing for bowl games. That is crazy. Well, it would be crazy if it weren't a decision made by the NCAA.

We beat him when he had Jesus at QB in Florida and that will continue now. He did such a great job recruiting down there that now that the team is full of his guys they're a joke. He saw what was coming and bailed out under the guise of "health issues." Yeah I'm shaking over here. OHIO fans will be running him out of town soon enough. Urban Cooper.

-the comment was in regards to the NCAA providing an exemption. So your first 'point' makes no sense.

-nobody is shaken to the core - we say 'bring it on' because as long as your asshats aren't allowed to de facto pay players, we like our odds to beat you more often than not.

-you're not locking up Ohio. Urban's going after Florida kids and hoke has solid roots in Ohio. The whole point is, we're back to the status quo and we're not scared of you in a level playing field. But yet again, the NCAA gives you an advantage. It's odd, yet not enough to worry us. Now go back to the shothole you came from, troll.

I feel like this is a pretty common occurence for school who hire a new HC and allow their current head coach to finish out the season.

Wasn't RichRod allowed to start hiring staff when Lloyd Carr finished out his last season? I thought some of the staff he brought over from West Virgina were immediately hired. From my understanding Urban has only hired Tom Herman so far like 2 days ago, I doubt the guy is already blazing through the recruiting trail.

The issue isn't hiring a staff. The issue is allowing them to start acting as coaches while the old staff is also still acting as coaches. There are limits to how many coaches you can have. This let's OSU have double the allowable number and split duties to their advantage.

To my knowledge, RR and his staff (which wan't hired at that point anyway) was not allowed to go on the road recruiting while Lloyd and his staff coached the team.

Meyer has no staff to bring and has only hired one guy so far, the only other names are currrently on their staff. RR was recruiting, while Carr prep for the bowl...and recruited. Sorry, I'm not defenfing the them, I just don't see the difference, other than they are facing sanctions and why didn't NCAA make that part of their decision.

I share DB's difficulty in understanding this as well, especially given the name that is running the "shadow staff" (at least, this is what it is for the time being), if you will, at Ohio, as the name "Urban Meyer" has some draw, whereas "Luke Fickell" sounds more like a supporting character on "Dennis The Menace". It sounds like by granting this exemption that, once again, Ohio gets an "out" in a sticky situation. If the NCAA really believed in any form of competitive parity in collegiate athletics, it would make schools live with their decisions, right? I applaud our AD for mentioning this.

something. I mean I understand how its profitable for the NCAA to have OSU be a good team but I can't remember EVER hearing something happen like this before. If the NCAA was gonna grant this waiver wouldn't all schools that were making a coaching change do this?

This is a sign that Urban Meyer will receive special treatment from here on in, starting with whatever sanctions are coming their way. It would surprise me if the NCAA does anything more than they've already done to themselves.

First, we had the same advantage when RR came to town...yes, we all want to forget! Second, The understanding is, Meyer can build a staff and his organization, but the reality is whomever he hires most likely won't be in place until after 1/1/2012 (yes, I know that's not true for every case, so no need to send links to random articles). As far as recruiting is concerned, well, we were in the same boat when RR came to town but, with their pending sanctions, I sit here scratching my head over this one. I am not so sure sitting around whining about it changes anything. We have a great 2012 class and this has little or no impact to our future.

That's a quality that both Brandon and Hoke have, and I'm happy to see it. They call it like they see them. Hoke has chastised, but not denigrated, referees when calls are blatantly missed (and affect the games outcome). Both of them have now publicly commented on the coaching situation in Ohio. (Which seems fair, considering that some of our infractions had to do with the number and type of coaches used.)

I hope that when the NCAA punishment is handed down that we'll have a full court press, with the media as our partner in beating the drum, if they aren't appropriate or harsh enough.

I trust Brandon as far as I can throw a semi, but I agree with him on this one. It seems like the NCAA is going out of its way to make sure that THE Ohio State University doesn't really suffer much for their ten-year pattern of cheating.

Perhaps you might recall the QB for OSU when they won their last national championship was from Sterling Heights Stevenson in the Detroit suburbs? After that, you guys have been nothing but the SEC's favorite whipping boys....

Wait a minute, the point should be that the former OSU coach was fired in an attempt to avoid further sanctions and because he violated specific NCAA rules. Now, how should that be turned into an advantage to allow OSU to have two coaching staffs for the bowl game?

One thing if a head coach is fired or retires for other reasons (DUI, whatever), totally different if it is due to violating NCAA regulations.

If the whole need for two staffs is created by massive violations of NCAA rules, it is an absolute joke that they be given this edge. I'm glad Brandon said something. If anything it should have been more harsh.

Rich Rod was hired on December 17, 2007. He has less than a week to recruit before the dead period and he had no staff to speak of at the time because they were still busy coaching for WVU's bowl game. Urban Meyer was announced as coach at Ohio on November 28, which is giving him about 3 more weeks to recruit than we got with Rich Rod. The NCAA ruling on this is unfair. PERIOD.

what is your point? of course we rely on ohio for recruiting, it has a wealth of football talent and no one here is afraid to admit that. the point is what is normally a difficult task (coaching and recruiting simultaneously) is easier now for ohio because they get two coaching staffs.